Former Panthers lineman Kony Ealy wants ‘a little revenge’ on Sunday

Remember Kony Ealy?

The Carolina Panthers’ 2014 second-round draft pick out of Missouri is now with the New York Jets, and finally seeing the production the Panthers were unable to pull out of him last season.

Carolina traded Ealy to New England last spring for a second-round pick, but the Patriots released the defensive lineman less than six months later after Ealy struggled to fit into the defensive scheme.

The Jets scooped up Ealy, who is now having a great season with nine batted passes, 12 tackles, a sack and an interception.

He’s especially looking forward to proving something to his former teammates and coaches this weekend, according to his interview Tuesday morning on the NFL Network’s “Good Morning Football.”

“I've got a lot of friends I played with (in Carolina) and a lot of coaches,” Ealy said. “It's going to mean more to me playing in that game and just being fired up about going out there and just really doing what I need to do for my team.

“But also, getting a little revenge, I guess you could say.”

Ealy impressed in Carolina’s Super Bowl appearance in 2015 with three sacks, an interception, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. He seemed on the cusp of becoming the next defensive star. But Carolina never saw that spark consistently on the field from Ealy again. He had just 19 tackles and five sacks in 2016, along with three passes defensed.

An Observer story from 2016 illustrated how Panthers ex-GM Dave Gettleman had once compared Ealy to former Panthers cornerback Josh Norman, who had tested the staff early in his career “with his ‘freelancing ways and stubborn demeanor.’ ...Implicit in Gettleman’s comment was the fact that he thought Ealy – like Norman – had the talent to become a Pro Bowl-caliber player if he figured things out.”

In New York, Ealy is trying to do just that – figure things out.

But Sunday, he’ll first have to go through the team that drafted him.

This story was originally published November 21, 2017 at 2:17 PM with the headline "Former Panthers lineman Kony Ealy wants ‘a little revenge’ on Sunday."